0 PERATIONS: D EFENCE
USA/USSR agree
on CFE limits
BY MIKE GAINES
Soviet Foreign Minister Edu-ard Schevarnadze and US
Secretary of State James Baker
have "agreed in principle" on
virtually all the outstanding is
sues impeding the Conventional
Forces in Europe (CFE) reduc
tion talks.
The USA negotiated on behalf
of the Western nations follow
ing three meetings with allies in
New York but the USA and the
Soviets stressed that their re
spective allies must be re-
consulted before the agreement
in principle can actually be
turned into a treaty for signing
by all 23 NATO and Warsaw
Pact member countries.
The overall equipment ceil
ings for both NATO nad the
Warsaw Pact have been set at
2,000 combat helicopters,
20,000 tanks, 20,000 artillary
tubes and 30,000 armoured
combat vehicles.
The overall ceiling for combat
aircraft is still to be decided; it
is likely to be 5,150 plus an
additional number, probably
1,000, for non-Soviet Warsaw
Pact nations.
Within the overall ceiling,
any one country in either pact
can have up to 5,150 combat
aircraft, 1,500 helicopters,
13,300 tanks, 13,700 artillery
tubes and 20,000 armoured
combat vehicles.
Both sides haves have con
ceded that land-based naval air
craft would not come under the
provisions of CFE but will be
limited by a, later, politically
binding agreement to 400 per
side. This figure does not in
clude land-based maritime pa
trol aircraft.
The two countries also agreed
on verification procedures but a
few "peripheral" issues remain
to be resolved on the question
of zones — areas where pre-
agreed numbers of equipment
and aircraft are permitted to be
based.
The CFE Treaty is expected
to be ratified and signed before
a conference on security and
co-operation in Europe (CSCE)
opens in Paris on 19
November. •
Finland looks at German MiG-29s
BY GERALD O'DWYER
IN HELSINKI
The Finnish Air Force has expressed an interest in ac
quiring MiG-29 Fulcrum inter
ceptors previously operated by
the East German Air Force.
The idea has been made pos
sible by changes in Finnish gov
ernment foreign policy on two
major treaties involving the So
viet Union.
The government has declared
that it views parts of the 1947
Paris Peace Treaty (PPT) deal
ing with military capability as
obsolete.
The disengagement from sec
tions of the PPT appertaining to
the air, army and naval strength
of Finland's armed forces coin
cided with a parallel initiative in
amending specific clauses in the
1948 Finno-Soviet treaty of
Friendship Co-operation and
Mutual Assistance (FCMA) al
luding to Germany as an aggres
sive power and potential enemy.
The dramatic foreign policy
change was agreed following
talks with the main signatories
to the PPT, Britain and the
Soviet Union. Alterations made
to the FCMA treaty were ac
ceded during separate discus
sions with Soviet officials.
The dual impact of the
changes will combine to alter
the Finnish Armed Forces' tra
ditional procurement strategy,
which allocated one-third of
military purchase requirements,
respectively, to Western, Soviet
and domestic manufacturers.
This practice will now help
making way for a more open-
market based policy.
One immediate consequence
of the treaty amendments has
been the interest voiced by the
Finnish Air Force in the possib-
lity of acquiring MiG-29 fighters
from East Germany. The FCMA
treaty specifically prohibited
purchase of fighters and other
military hardware from "Ger
many".
The reinterpretation of the
treaty now opens the door to
what one MoD official described
as "bargain basement" pur
chases of aircraft, helicopters,
minesweepers and other mili-
-" ,
-*»"
East Germany's 24 MiG-29 Fulcrums became redundant on reunification
tary equipment.
The Finnish Air Force sought
and received offers on replace
ment fighters from the Soviet
Union, France with the Mirage
2000, General Dynamics with
the F-16 and Saab's JAS 39
Gripen manufacturers earlier
this year.
Finland had also been ex
pected to buy MiG- 29s from
the Soviet Union but this deal
is now in doubt. Air Force
officials believe that East Ger
man MiG-29s will be made
redundant as a result of the
reunification of Germany and
realise only a quarter of their
original price. "It would not be
impossible at all to buy East
Germany's surplus defence
equipment. It is sigificant that
the PPT's military provisions are
now being seen as obsolete"
says Finnish Armed Forces
Commander Adm Jan Klenberg.
The "German" clause in the
FCMA treaty coupled with the
military capability sections in
the PPT had bridled any hopes
Finland had of developing its
defence forces independently of
outside powers. Finland had
been limited to 60-frontline
fighters. This ceiling is no
longer relevant in the light of
the new changes.
The reinterpretation of FCMA
and PPT agreements are un
likely to have any immediate
impact on defence spending
patterns. Higher budgetary
spending on defence will be
precluded by recessionary and
other economic, pressures.
There is also liable to be strong
political resistance to demands
for more spending on defence.
Defence chiefs can be ex
pected to counter these argu
ments by recommending that
replacement military equipment
including aircraft be bought
from "low-cost" East European
sources, suggesting that savings
could be used to develop other
areas of air, naval and land
defences to their true potential,
now that the treaty constraints
have been removed. •
Japan outlines E-3 and MLRS plans
The Japanese Defence Agency (JDA) plans to start pro
curement of airborne early
warning aircraft and the LTV
Multiple Launch Rocket System
in Fiscal Year 1992.
The JDA says it wants to buy
the E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft
from Boeing and is seeking to
negotiate a deal whereby Nissan
builds at least 60% of the MLRS
under licence in Japan.
However, the US Department
of Defense says it wants at least
60% of the Japanese MLRS buy
to be built in the USA and
wants the AWACS to be intro
duced to Japan as a Foreign
Military Sales (FMS) package.
The Japanese want to avoid an
E-3 FMS deal, as a straight
commercial buy would give
them more customer leverage
for product support in the
long term.
Japan has a requirement for
four E-3s and plans to purchase
one a year from FY1992. •
14 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 10 - 16 October, 1990